September 6, 2024

Firm helps secure $19 million for wrongful conviction of Jaythan Kendrick

Today, our firm, alongside the Law Offices of Joel B. Rudin and Bloch & White LLP, settled claims against the City of New York on behalf of Jaythan Kendrick’s estate for $15 million, following a $4 million settlement against the State of New York last month. Kendrick spent 26 years in prison for a murder he did not commit before being exonerated in 2020 based on DNA evidence, witness recantations, pervasive misconduct by the trial prosecutor, and revelations that police fabricated key evidence. The Queens judge who vacated Kendrick’s conviction, Joseph A. Zayas, called it a “monumental” “miscarriage of justice” and a “travesty.” Kendrick’s journey to exoneration began with years of pro bono work by Tom Hoffman, assisted by Jonathan Hiles, followed by WilmerHale and the Innocence Project.

Kendrick’s federal lawsuit alleged that NYPD detectives fabricated statements, planted evidence, and coerced witnesses to falsely identify him, and that prosecutors misled jurors and hid exculpatory evidence, consistent with office-wide practices at the time.

Tragically, Kendrick died in 2022, his health broken by his long imprisonment. Kendrick was a father, a US Army Veteran, and a US Postal Service worker with no prior criminal record or history of violence. He never stopped fighting for his freedom or for accountability for the people who framed him.